Mutterings

We all have our stupid moments. But I have post this one, and it's not about me so Ha Ha.

We had group presentations last week in one of my classes (I just loooove those!) Anyways, in someone's power point presentation they spelled "aesthetic"... "ascetic". I could hear my professor's brain explode behind me, because his master's is in English.

I hate to be one of those people but I am a bit of a spelling nazi. Not so good with grammar (or puncuation) though. Obviously.  But I will admit this: since being on a new medication I've been really ditzy and spacey and so my spelling skills are not well lately. I can't wait to switch off of this crap which will be soon. However, I still know how to use a dictionary.

I just noticed that the 10 page paper I have due on Thursday... The professor said "It should be about 10 pages." 2 pages is about 10, wouldn't you agree? Yes, I thought so. 

And while I'm airing some grievances about people there are two other things that people tend to do that bother me. Well, more than that but I'm only going to focus on these two for now.

Being in college... for some reason I notice this happens a lot with all those perky, bouncy 20 year old girlie girls. You just gotta love them. (Ha ha. I need an apron from all the sarcasm dripping around here.)

1) I cannot stand when people end their sentences in questions. It really drives me nuts? It grates on my nerves? I don't think it's cute or endearing at all?

2)  Bringing me to number two: I hate it when girls croak in this way that sounds like they have a sore throat. I just know they do it because they think it's cute and endearing, but it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really annoying. (And I know they only do it at certain times because usually when I hear them talking with their friends they speak normally. They seem to mostly do it towards any males. And/or when they're saying something in class.)

Yes, it is annoying?

Nuts?

We have some snow on the ground here and I always feel for the squirrelies. We have a special wooden box secured to the house for the flickers. (I always call them Flicker-dee-dees.)

Well, the squirrels and flickers always fight for the box. Actually we do have two of them, I'm not sure who is in the second box. But the squirrels have won a box for now. They are able to climb the stucco on the house.

I walked to the ground under the box (which is up about 10 feet on the house) and I called to the squirrels. "Come on out, I got peanuts for you!"

I dumped them under a small bush, I like to do that so the squirrels have a little protection from predators, and sure enough I looked up and saw a squirrely nose peeking out of the box. So cute! I hope he climbed down and got a few peanuts before the sun went down. 

I've been swamped under personal stuff and FINALS. Uggghhhhh! I have been putting off a 10 page paper to write that's due next week. Then I have another paper to write next weekend. My last day is December 16, with a final that is an essay. I'm not looking forward to that one, this prof has had us read about 1500 pages and he says "I will ask about 25 questions from all our readings. As long as you did the readings, you'll be fine."

Oh sure! 1500 pages of readings! Piece of cheesecake.

Ferrety Cats

I adopted two kitties about 7 years ago. One a siamese and the other a calico. I've had them since they were kittens. (The callie was saved by my vet tech friend and she convinced me to take her.)

Anyhow, so they were tiny when I adopted them. Well, whenever I let the ferrets out of their very large cage the kittens would head in there! They would check out the whole place, the three levels, and they would munch on the ferret food. The would even sleep in the ferret hammocks.

To this day they still love ferret food. We have a bowl of it in our bedroom for when we let the ferrets run. The cats come in periodically and munch on it. So cute!

We all have our moments but...

Yesterday in class we were discussing various things. The professor asked "What happened in January of 2001?"

My correct answer (bush took office) was loudly overridden by this woman who shouted out "9-11!!!"

Um yeah. Let's examine this, shall we? 9-11 is called that because what? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

The sizing may be off again...

so just click on it to see the full image.

Anywho, I find this to be super true:
(especially for this one class of mine where the professor seems to be in another wacked-out dimension with his thoughts and questions.)


more music charts

Mortification

Today I had to go on a field trip with a classmate for a group project. She drove. We went to a hot springs because that's what our project is about.

Just yesterday I increased the dosage on a medication. Today I didn't have any lunch and not much to drink either. I may have ingested just a little bit of the mineral water by accident too.

On the way home I was feeling very queasy and car sick. 

We were on highways for the entire trip home. Suddenly I threw up all over her car because it was hard to ask her to pull over on a highway. I. Am. Mortified by this.  

I was drinking a bottle of water at that point and really that's all I threw up. But still. Awful Awful Awful. 

Okey Dokey Smokey

Boring post about my homework. It's just one of those weeks/weekends where I'm swamped. But yet I'm happy I'm not procrastinating that badly!

I wrote one paper on Thursday night. Took all of Friday off. Today it took me 5 hours to write the other paper just because I didn't want to and I had no focus. But I finally got it written. Then I did a piece for my group presentation on Monday. I need to figure out my little speech for the damn presentation though.

All that I haven't done is study for a massive early final on Wednesday. :-( I'll get started on that tomorrow hopefully, and I have all day Wednesday before the night class to study as well. I'm scared of this final though. 

I've got another presentation to do on Thursday as well. Booooo. And I'm going to bring in a dish for the class.

Tomorrow I'll be going to a hot springs for yet another group project thing. *Sigh* I love hot springs by hate going with a classmate I hardly know.

Well, so that's what's going on in my little world right now. 

After this week of hell coming up I'll only have two days of school the week after thanks to the Thanksgiving break. YAY!

BUT more papers and books to be read over that break. BOOOOOOO.

Awww, so incredible and sweet

EDIT: Hmmm... sorry if the formatting is off for this picture.
Click it to see the full view.

Two-fer

Alright, that's it. We need to stand up and let our voices be heard. The time has come. I want an outright BAN ON BUTTCRACK.

Dude, there is this person in one of my classes... she sits right in front of me... she's plump and yet squeezes herself into clothes that are 5 sizes too small, especially her beloved low-rise pants. And every time she stands up or sits down I'm treated to a great view of the continental divide.

That is IT. NO MORE! Abolish Asscrack Abundance.

When Obama takes office I want these low-rise pants to vanish like a fart in a tornado.

Hip Hip Hooray!

I got into all the classes I wanted. I just registered for my spring semester. Last time I registered I was frustrated because I was waitlisted on three courses I wanted. Not this time! :-)

I'm taking all science classes, which makes me happy.

In other news, I don't have much other news. Just coping along.

You know, there is one thing. My dad is usually a very patient guy. Mostly easy-going and patient. I sure wish I inherited those traits, especially since I have a spouse with a brain injury. Those people need people with lots of patience. My dad is able to tolerate my husband and his idiosyncrasies in such a great manner.

Sometimes I want to talk about what I've been going through but I think it needs to be private for now. The world of online is strange... I mean, for one thing, it's super saturated now with bloogers (intentional) and those certain few who make tons of money off of it. How long will that last? Hmm.

Well, anyways. Ciao for now.

Title goes here

For Tammy... (her blog) Cuteness!


see more puppies

Otter-full ramblings

It's barely a secret... I love ferrets and otters. Very, very much. (and any other remotely related critters to them, including raccoons and skunks.) Anyways. I love all animals, but ferrets and otters are just my all time favorite.

Webkinz is finally coming out with an otter! And btw, here (http://cuteotters.com/) is one of my favorite sites. Check out the adorable otters earlier on the page holding up plastic pumpkins. Isn't that just precious?!?

I finally looked at what was available for me for my next semester. Things will be a bit better I think. Right now I'm stuck in "humanities hell" for my classes. Next semester I'll be taking all science classes. Practical meteorology, cartography and landforms/soils. I'm pretty excited. The only downfall is the cartography class is Thursday night and the meteorology class is early Friday morning. Ugh. But that's okay, I can deal. Especially since I would only be going to school 3 days a week. Each class is 4 credit hours and they meet only one day a week.

I'm going to have to take a test to prove I know math. Ridiculous. I've done Calc I and yet they still don't think I have the "right" math. I could take this one geography class with statistics and it would wipe out three things, three requirements for me... but well, that class meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 8:00 am. No thank-ya. Love math, but ugh.

Besides, why not spend $55 and take a test and just get the requirement out of my hair? Then I wouldn't be stuck doing a class I don't look forward to, the statistics one, and can take the cartography class.

But once again, you're going to hear me whine about math. I sure do miss it. I really think that when I'm older I'm going to take a class here and there and earn some kind of degree in it. Or else teach myself on the side like a hobby. I cannot understand this hold it has on me, but it does.
I wish I could minor in it, but that would be too much extra work right now. With everything going on in my personal life (and it's a doozy) I need as little stress as possible.

Cheesy poofs

Well, I have been going through some very personal hardships lately, so that's why I haven't been around.

Soooo, I'm going to post another tale from the Bus Barn. Well, really, it's another amusing tale from when I drove a school bus for 3 years.

It was my rookie year and I had just been switched from one route to another one. Which was actually a very stupid move and I'm still kinda peeved at the "boss" who did this switch. But anyhow... I was put on a route with some very troublesome high schoolers. The kind where they are emotionally damaged and act out.

After two weeks, which involved another "boss" sticking her nose in and making things worse initially... I finally won them over.

They were in the back of the bus quoting "South Park." One of them said "Moooom! Kitty's being a dildo!" And then almost without thinking I said "I know a certain kitty-kitty who's sleeping with mommy tonight!"

That did it. That totally won them over and they were mine for the rest of the year. I felt horrible though, one of them-one of the most toughest kids who came around to me the most-I meant to give him a candy bar on his last day. I forgot. To this day I am still upset I forgot because he really deserved it for changing his behavior.

AIR HORN!

In continuing my minor stories from my bus driving days I'd like to share a story that I love.

I was driving a bunch of rugrats to Denver and I had the misfortune to get behind someone who progressively drove slower and slower and started weaving a bit in the lane.

I kinda waited for a prime opportunity to "nail" her... and when I saw her whip out her mascara wand and tend to her eyelashes in the rear view mirror... I pounced.

I grabbed my AIR HORN and gave it a very satisfying blast.

She freaked out and immediately got into a left turn lane to get out of the way. HA! I hope I scared her hair white.

What hill?

Random stories pop into my head from my bus driving days... one of them is really minor and puerile but I can't help share it anyway.

I was designated as a field trip driver which I really loved doing. I got to travel and see places for free. Typically I would just drive people some place and then read for hours by myself or something. The only reason I bailed was to make a better life for myself and the field trips were really slowing down. I didn't want to go back to a regular route.

Anywho! I was living off directions constantly and one time I had to drive to Denver and find Jack Ass Hill. That just made me laugh even though I know it's really just an animal.

Man. Nothing but SOSDD around here. Though this is a slightly lighter homework week. But the week of 10/12 or whatever is going to majorly SUCK. I have two tests that week and I think a big project is due too. *scream*

But at least things are a bit lighter for now. Instead of 300 or 400+ pages I have to read it's only 24 pages and an article, though the article is a bit long.

My hubby and I are going to join the college gym too. They allow family! Woo hoo! But no 'woo hoo' because classmates may see me in my bathing suit. Eh.

Well, that's your entertainment from my end of the world. I'm a little braindead today so nothing is really coming to me. I was invited to and just joined the National Society of Leadership and Success. I'm a little nervous. I'm trying to push myself outside of my box, because I'm an introvert. So this will be a bit uncomfortable. Oh well. I think it'll be beneficial.

Post of Rage

Don't you hate it when a bunch of events line up to embarrass and/or annoy you? Well, that happened to me today.

I took my husband's cell phone with me to school. Long story. Anyways, I could not figure out how to get it to "silent mode". (and I'm pretty savvy with that stuff.) So, I turned it off for most of the day.

Now please also note I do not get many cell calls. At all. Only from family, as I have no friends really. My phone could be silent for days or weeks. Ryan doesn't get a lot of calls either, though more than I do.

In the last few weeks to months even my husband hasn't called me all that much. Usually I have my own phone and I have a nice "vibrate" feature that is easy to access for cryin' out loud. Therefore even if I'm in class it's okay to get a phone call. But still, he hasn't called me as much as he used to.

Until today.

Today he had to call me repeatedly to tell me he misses me and can't wait for me to come home.

Let me back up though. I was in the library waiting out the Shuttle Bus Crush; the shuttle buses are so damn crowded at certain times that you just need to wait. So now I have to wait 30 minutes after my last class before I can get a guaranteed seat. (I have another rageful tale. Ok, we interrupt this Rage to bring you Old Rage. A couple of weeks ago the bus was full. The driver was asking people "Any seats left?" The answer came "One." Well, this guy who wasn't even waiting at the stop just breezed his way past me and boarded the bus. He was utterly oblivious to anyone but himself. I was so pissed off. I was standing right at the doors, but to the side waiting to see if there were any seats left. I know I should have said something but it just didn't work out so that I could. And the capper? This guy was only going to get his lunch out of his car. Because on the next bus down to the parking lot, he was getting back on to go back to school with his lunch. OH I was pissed off.)

Ergo what I do now is just wait in the library for 30 minutes for that mad rush to calm down. It's okay, I always have plenty of effing ready material to get accomplished. I am SO BOGGED DOWN WITH READING it is not funny. Like every class wants me to read a novel for the next week. That's 4 novels a week. I'm really hitting my limit here. (This is just Rage icing on this Rage cake.)

Back to my original story. I'm in the library. I turn on the cell phone to check the time, it's time to leave so I'm walking out of the library. Not 30 second later, the phone starts to ring. LOUDLY. I happened to also turn up the volume so that when I give it back to Hubs, he can hear the phone for when I call. So that's my contribution to this whole mess. One part of it anyway.

I scurry to silence the phone, but Hubs leaves a message. Now I get a loud voice mail message tone indicator. Then he called me back!!!! I silence the phone again and then go to turn it off again. Naturally the phone has to announce to people in New Zealand that I have pushed the power off button... there's a very loud "shut-down-power-off-Dave-don't-kill-me" song and dance the cell phone must perform.

F***!!!!! My contribution to this was turning the volume up and not turning the phone back off after I checked the time. Hubs contribution is, after months of not calling me... he decides he really misses me and calls me repeatedly to see where I was. (He knew I was out of class, but couldn't know about the library.)

So I call him back after I'm finally out of the library and rip him a new one. I'm not really mad at him though. I'm pissed off at the entire situation.

The ONE time I turn on the phone for the whole day, he calls. The ONE day, after months of not really calling me, he calls me repeatedly. I'm trying to leave the library and in those few minutes that it will take me to walk to the exit I need... EVERYTHING HAS TO CONSPIRE AT ONCE.

And HAL? Oh I'll get to him later with a screwdriver. Stupid cell phone.

Corn Porn

Alrighty then, finally something to giggle about. I'm required to read a book by Michael Pollan called The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a very good book.
(Oh sure, the book goes on sale after I had to buy it for college. Naturally.)

I was pretty grumpy when I started reading it, however that changed when I got a giggle out of a passage. In mentioning America's past uses for corn cobs, he of course brought up using dry corn cobs in the privy. Giving us America's slang "corn hole".

LOL

Then he did indeed move onto "corn porn" and literally talked about "corn sex." And he mentioned how corn is backwards in its reproducing ways, in such that the female is phallic and the male organ is more "flowery".

Anywho. All giggles aside, this is a great book and very educational. Maybe it's because I'm human, maybe it's because I'm vegetarian, maybe it's because I have been wildly interested in "natural living", maybe it's because I married into a farming family but this is stuff I've been fascinated with for a long time.

It's pretty scary though. Scary what our world is coming to and even scarier to wonder how it can be ultimately fixed. I don't think I'll see any vast improvements in my lifetime. Things are starting to snowball a bit, such as more awareness in natural, non-antibiotic, non-GMO-grain fed beef and stuff like that. But the government, the Farm Bill and all that NAFTA stuff is just... well, it's not going so well at the moment.

But I'm not trying to start a riot with my little blog entry. I just wanted to make a comment about the book. Which all should read, I truly believe that. Being in college I see how education really is a major key for a better future.

BTW the movie/documentary "King Corn" is also quite worth a viewing with an open mind.

Now as for my other classes? *sigh* I'm totally inundated with projects and books to read. Tons and TONS of reading. It's killing me. I really hate this semester.

I had a nerd dream last night. I was explaining Hadley Cells to some people. See, that's what I'm more interested in, Physical Geography. Though geography tries to get humans and physical to correlate. But still, I'm more interested in the science part.

Anywho, here's hoping my future semesters will be better. I already know I'm going to take a physical meteorology class and I just found out about something I really would like to take: biopsychology. It's called Brain and Behavior. I already have my science requirements, more than I need actually, but I'll be taking it for an elective. It would be highly fascinating and very felicitous to me because of my husband's traumatic brain injury.

No more!!!!!!!!!

Ugh. Stupid school. So much reading to do. Hate it. Can't speak in complete sentences.

So I'll say what I did for fun on Sunday. We have a membership to our local zoo and I was able to pet a tarantula and a wallaby. I wanted to take both home, they were so cute.

One time I drove a field trip of buttheads kids to the zoo. It was a bit of a dreary day, which is actually how I like it. But because of the weather the zoo was pretty empty. I love aquatic animals so I spent a good hour in that area. (I have a major obsession with ferrets and otters, btw. I was watching the river otters in the aquatics area.)

Anywho, a zookeeper was feeding the hippos. And he asked me if I'd like to pet them. There is a grandmother, mother and daughter. (What, do they eat the males after mating like black widows or something?) So I got to pet the grandmother and daughter. Mom was in the pool at the time.

It was so cool. Hippo skin is quite interesting. It was also a nice treat that many people don't get to experience.

I truly love animals with all my heart. They de-stress me at a glance. (Unless they're being naughty pains in the butt!) But I can look at a picture of some animal and it melts me. Being a zookeeper or vet would be an "ideal" path for me, but I am too sensitive to be able to do it. I'm still very heartbroken over the passing of my ferret, Mordecai, back in July. He's just the latest in a long string of animal deaths I've had to endure.

Well. Didn't mean to get all depressing. *sigh*

I don't even have any funny school stories to share at the moment.

Twitter Whore by Lisa Nova

(I think that's the person I should be crediting. The actress goes by that name. I don't know. What planet are we on again?)

Anyways. I find these videos completely hilarious. This chicka should be on SNL stat. Or something better. Warning: they are annoying because they are supposed to be annoying.

Part 1


Part 2

Well, it's happened.

What? you say with bated breath.

I finally got a used college textbook with boogers in it. I'm so happy. I once had one with naked pictures drawn, man, bring that back.

Reminds of me of the time I was book shopping with a college friend. He just grabbed one off the shelf and I said "Hey, don't you want to check for boogers?" And he replies "Nah, it'll be a midnight snack."

Can't remember what karst topography specifically is but I can remember that conversation. Sometimes my brain really pisses me off. Useful, intelligent information is out, useless information is in for life.

I tried to find a picture of something and now I can't find it. I took a picture in school of something on my cell phone.
Someone rubbed the first two letters off the second word in: Computer Classroom.

Oh, the Quadratic Formula? You get to take a flying leap outta my brain to make room for Computer 'Assroom. Oh yes. Been nice knowing ya. Buh-bye.

Upmost importance

It is imperative that you know the following information.

I was sitting in my classroom at my university when I glanced over at the wall and saw this written there:

BOOBS!
NADS!

As you were.

Autumn is coming

I think the beginning of fall is one of my favorite times. I always feel better this time of year, knowing that cooler temperatures are on their way. I'm very much a cold-weather person.

I'm very tired too. Just going through some emotional stress. And it's taking a toll on my body a bit too. So yeah. Tired seems to be the word for the weekend.

Well, this is completely random but awhile ago I found a picture of a bug online. Not just any bug, but a weird bug that I tried to describe here.

Freaking weird:

Award!

I got my first ever award! Yippee! Thanks to Jennifer!



Ummm, well, let's see. I'm doing this class that is pretty much learning about wine and doing wine tasting. It's an upper division geography elective. I feel kinda silly taking it, especially when I do kinda yearn for calculus or physics or something... but it's satisfying a requirement for me. It's a much sought after class (wonder why) and I only resorted to it when I couldn't get into some other classes. I was surprised to get into it.

It's kinda costing me a lot though. I have to bring in a $50 fee, which they didn't mention up front, and we have an overnight trip they didn't mention up front either. But I'm making the best of the situation. We're going to be visiting some vineyards and they happen to be near a few hot springs. So Ryan and I will go up the day before and soak in the hot springs. Then I'll go get drunk all weekend. Ha ha ha.

It still feels surreal to be in that class. Oh well.
A girl asked this question "I don't mean to be square, but, like, how much wine will we be drinking? I have drive home ya know."

LOL. Very valid question, but it was funny to hear her say "Square." It's so square to drive sober, dude!

I am a junior. I just changed my major to geography from math. (I miss my math!) (I did it sadly because staying with math would've made my college take longer. I want to just finish as fast as possible so my husband and I can move out of my parents house.) Anywho... these geography classes are senior level. I didn't have any other choice, there were barely any junior level. Talk about jumping in the deep end. Yikes.

I still have one more freshman geography class to fulfill too. It seems like geography is either a freshman level or senior level, no in-betweens. I don't know. Whatever.
But I do wonder what classes there will be for me to take when I am a senior.
There is some kind of requirement... I have to take X many geography electives, but I can take other upper-division electives too. Sadly... that will be hard too because I can't just jump into junior and senior level classes without taking the freshman/sophomore classes.

I don't know. The more I think about it and ramble on about it the more I'm confused. And scared. Will I graduate this millennium? Perhaps?

Dangerous Dog Toy

I thought I would do my little part in helping this make the circles on the internet. This is very sad, but thankfully not tragic. The poor sweetheart doggie. Makes my heart break.

I'm just going to post the main link. The update on the dog is at the top, and then you have to scroll down a couple of entries to read what had happened.

The Chai Story, a dog toy poses danger to all dogs.

I'm really tired of the sub-par toys and foods out there for our animals. I wish I could start a company that would make toys with minimal danger and foods with minimal bad-fillers. I can't tell you how many hours I spend in stores trying to think about what this toy could do to whatever animal I'm buying for. :-(

Mountain goat is more like it.

I am BEAT.

Between walking all over campus, which no matter what direction you go in seems to always be uphill, and hustling to catch shuttle buses... I am wore out. Due to the hills we need to change our uni mascot to the Mountain Goats.

50 feet back

Well, I don't have much to really say about my first day of school... other than mayhem. I couldn't figure out where the shuttle would be picking me up. I held it up for about a minute. :-( But it was nice of the driver to wait for me. And unlike other bonehead people I actually hurried my ass across the parking lot to get to the bus ASAP.

Then I go to the wrong classroom. Good job! The building's main entrance is actually on the second floor. I forget this. So I was looking for room 100 and was actually in 200 because I wasn't paying attention. I was relieved to escape the anthropology class that was shaping up in there though. Yikes. Not my cup of tea at all.

So I find my way to my communications class and not 30 second later the fire alarm goes off. Darn. If only it had gone off before I showed up so I didn't have to walk into the class 5 minutes late. I could've just blended in at the end of the drill.

The cop kept chasing us away from the building once we were outside. We were to be 50 feet from it. However, we were in a courtyard. There was NO area where we could be and accomplish that feat.

Whatevs. :-)

Anyway, nothing super fantastic, just the usual first day mayhem. More to follow I suppose.

Shape Shifters

I need to morph into a 6 foot 8 inch, 275 pound (all muscle) guy on Wednesdays.

It bites to be a college woman. I have to get across campus late on Wednesday night, my class gets out at 8:30 pm, to catch the shuttle to my car. It's a pain to have to call campus security and wait for them to show up and then walk you across campus.

It's also a pain to have to maybe try and catch the campus van, but then miss the shuttle bus and therefore not get home until, like, midnight. Not really, but I wouldn't get home until 9:30 pm at the earliest, when my class lets out at 8:30 pm, and once again, my house is only a 20 minute drive.

But there is the weather issue too, I suppose when the weather's bad I'll just have to suck it up and do all this waiting for the campus van, even if it means missing the shuttle and having to wait another 20 minutes for it to come back. Who wants to walk across campus, uphill, when it's raining or snowing? Soooooo. I'll have to make the most of all my wait times, try to make them bearable.

Fun times.

Creepy Crawlies

That title has nothing to do with the post actually. It just popped into my head because I watched a small spider walk across the floor just now. I wish I could've caught him and taken him outside, but he was motoring at a faster pace and I didn't have anything to catch him in.

I haven't had much to really say because not a lot has been going on. I start school tomorrow which I'm not so excited about. But I suppose there could be something funny I could post here from my school adventures. Let's see, I only have 5 semesters left, including this one. (I'm a junior, but I'll be going to school in the summer next year as well.) The count down is on and I'm more than ready for it to end.

I ordered all my books from online sources and I received two of them without dust jackets and they were supposed to have them. I didn't bother with any complaints but now I wish I had because they were listed in very good condition, I paid for that condition, and to boot--the description never did mention the covers were missing.
Oh well. Live and learn.

I did have a day of excitement on Friday. I got to ride in a combine. My father-in-law is a farmer. My husband comes from a world of farming. That's how he received his open head brain injury: a tractor accident when he was 11 and farming.

So it was a lot of fun to ride in that big thing. But I did have a moment where I pictured Ryan's accident. The combine and the tractor Ryan was in are both closed cabs... and so I just kinda thought to myself "Imagine a chain flying through this cab and smashing into my head." *shudder*

That's how it happened, Ryan was in a lead tractor trying to tow another one out of the mud. The chain broke, whipped forward, smashed through the cab and onto Ryan's head. Happened in a split second and Ryan probably was not aware of course, but it's still unnerving.

Anyways. This combine my FIL has, he bought new in 1978. :-) Ryan used to ride in there on his lap. That is too adorable. And Ryan used to call it a "tractor-bine" when he was little.

Well, that's about all I have to say for myself right now. Yucky school tomorrow! At least my class doesn't start until 1:00. That's very nice. But I have leave at noon to catch the stupid shuttle and allow myself time to walk all the way across campus. (My university is only about a 20 minute drive from my house, yet I have to take an extra 40 minutes for all this crap.) Why they don't have two stops on campus for the shuttle I don't know. It's pretty ridiculous. And it'll be even more fun in the winter time with bad weather!

The String Theory

I'll never forget hearing my dad give my husband this piece of advice on the golf course.

In regards to the time old "keep your head down" rule for hitting a golf ball... my dad helpfully passed on this pearl that his dad told him.

"Visualize a piece of string tied from your nose to your nuts."

Not all of us agree

Dipping Jalapeno Cheetos into pickle juice while simulaneously eating pickles with chunky peanut butter might be a great idea... but let me assure you, it's not.

I need to go double check my college ID and see if I really am in an institution of higher education.





(Seriously. What is up with that? You start eating some odd ball combination of food and it tastes so good you can't get enough... but then several moments later you learn that there are other organs in your body who do not agree with your taste buds. IfyouknowwhatImean.)

1+1= ?

Ok. That's it. This is just a short little entry to shut my head up.

I miss being a math major. What is up with that? Why can I not stop thinking and obsessing about this? So fine. I needs a plan. Or two. First I will go to an advisor and see about adding math as a minor. However. I don't think that will be do-able at all since I've already lost two semesters without any math classes. And I only have 5 semesters left.

So plan B... which kinda sucks... is to get my Associate's of Science in math. Maybe. Or just take classes here and there and work towards another bachelor's.
In math... you usually end up teaching yourself the stuff anyways. My mom bought me a trig and calculus book from a garage sale. I need to review those and even re-teach myself some stuff because my last math teacher really bit the big one. But the thing is... they do have these tests where I could test out of classes without having to take them. CLEP or something like that. I could do that for a few classes anyways, so maybe getting another degree wouldn't take too long?

But... that could be just as valuable to me as a degree... just to have those skills which I will re-teach/teach myself. I would love to have math skills to impress my future employer and be a greater asset. I have a feeling that I could really come into something big in the employed world if I knew math quite well. Still... it could be nice to have something "official" such as a degree on my record as a math guru. (Ha.)
I sure wish I weren't so pressed for time. I would never have changed my major in the first place if it weren't so imperative that I graduate ASAP so that Ryan and I could get on with our lives.

It'll have to be a commitment on my part. A huge, hard commitment. But since this math major thing has gotten to me so badly I'd better do something about it. I've been bit by the math bug. Bad buggie!

Va-ca-she-on

I've been away for 5 days and 4 nights this week. In a lovely hotel. With air conditioning. But it cooled off this week. Now that we're leaving, the temps will rise again. Smashing. *eyeroll*

I earned an A in my geography class (weather and climate) and ... *sigh*... an A- in my Philosophical Filmmakers class. Now I definitely got a straight up A on my term paper so that minus part of the grade is from the group grades. How entirely aggravating and exasperating. Oh well. Damn group grades.

That's about all I have to say for the moment. Enjoying my little time off. School begins August 25. I'm a bit nervous again as it's when the campus will be full, unlike summer time. And I know there are going to be two people in at least one of my classes who I do not ... enjoy. But that is life. Ce La Vie.

Oh. Gotta make a to-do list for my time off as well. Joyous.

This made me laugh

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." - Matt Groening

1 down, 5 to go

One semester is done, five more to go before I graduate again. There is something to consider... if I took more than ~12 credit hours in the fall and spring, I could finish faster. Maybe. But my grants only cover that amount. Sooooo. It's just a matter of what is most important to me. I'd rather not take out more loans than I have to, and I'd rather not overload myself. I'd better re-evaluate my position soon, though. Make sure I'm on the right path to knocking out the classes I need in this time frame.

(OH and as I completely expected, I am certainly not the only one who my school "lost" their transfer scholarship. Now that I'm talking to people at this school I'm learning this happens frequently. I highly suspected that. But I am kicking myself for not sending my application in as registered mail or whatever it is where someone has to sign for it.)

It's been a very tough semester, especially these last 4 weeks. I won't got into many details, some of it is very personal, but every week something big and bad happened. Well, except for this week. One of the weeks being my ferret passing away. Something that still hurts me extremely. And my other two boy ferrets are missing him dearly too.

My last test, which I took this morning, was very tough. :-(
It was pretty sweet to see my professor, a male, turn to a puddle of mush when he saw this dog. He used to have a Newfoundland and when she died he just couldn't replace her with another one, so now I think he has a St. Bernard. But we discussed this a little bit after class once, when I was outwardly so miserable about Mordecai passing away. Anyway, this other girl in our class brought her big boy Newfoundland to school and when my professor saw him he just turned to mush, as I said.

I really, really enjoyed my professor. He knows a lot of stuff and he's a good teacher of stuff and he's sooooo easy going. He's got a great temperment and personality. I almost wish the class wasn't over, I love learning everything I can from him. I feel like a sponge, trying to soak up his words of wisdom. LOL, not trying to kiss butt here! This is all true!! I will try so hard to take another class with this guy.

PS It always surprises me how many people are not aware that when you stack two of these ~ (like a wavy equal sign) that it means "approximately." When I was a math major I couldn't believe how many people I had to tell that to. Though once I got to calculus I didn't have to explain it so much.

PPS I am annoyed because for the first 2 weeks of my second summer class, the one I bought the parking pass for, I parked out in the hot sun. Then I discovered I could park in the garage. I am kicking myself for missing out on parking garage goodness for the first 2 weeks.

PPPS I got an A on my Philosophical Filmmakers paper! Her comments were nothing but good. This makes me feel really good about myself.

More pet peeves

Here is another situation that annoys me greatly while in school. Edition number 791. Ha.

Anyways, I hate when you get that student in your class who suggests, at every chance, "Let's do a field trip!" And they do it because they're thinking "Oh BOY! A day outside in the sun without having to do schoolwork."

Ummm hello. Taking a field trip does not cancel out a day in the classroom. This isn't elementary school. We would still have to make up the time for lost lectures and classwork. Not to mention, with gas prices being so high and the temperatures being so high, I would not like to go traipsing around outside across town.

Yeah, so there is that student in my class. (Obviously.) Every single chance she gets she shouts out "Let's do a field trip!" And then today our professor was talking about the last test and how he might make it a group kind of thing. Such as giving out 4 possible questions, the group would choose 2 questions and write about them. And thus everyone will get that grade.
*HORROR*

But Little Miss Field Trip hears the words "open book, open notes, talking to other students" and perks right up thinking that it'll be a cakewalk. I say again: Hellllloooooo? If a test will be like that, then those questions are going to be really hard, you dimwit. Not to mention I would hate to be with a student who can't pull their weight.

Cease and desist with the whining!

Good grief. It never fails. You get a test back and students have to whine about the grades. I got a 98%, which was the highest in the class (yes, bragging) and well... I have to admit, the test was actually pretty easy, yet there were 3 C's, 1 D and 3 F's. Wow.

Anywho, the prof had about 5 females at this throat about their grades. Whine, Whine, Whine. Unfortunately/fortunately he did listen to them and he did actually give them their points back. One lady managed to claw her way from a 87% to a 91%.

I say unfortunately because... dangit, don't cave to these whiners! But it's fortunate too because it's nice to have a professor who'll listen and not be a pompous a-hole.

Now then. I do have a complaint about something else. I submitted my final paper for that stupid Humanities class on July 9. She said "Give me a week to grade them." It has now been almost two weeks. I'm getting kinda fed up. I cannot stand those types of professors who take their good sweet time grading things. A week should be plenty of time.

I don't feel very well. One reason is I'm getting sick of having a fan blow on me all the time. It's giving me a colossal headache. And another reason is because I HATE THE HEAT. I'm so miserable. My ideal temperature is about 60 degrees F.

Well, that's all the fancy news for today, I s'pose.

Mordecai Angel

I've been quiet because one of my beloved ferrets passed away last week. I've been really depressed all week.

class

I just survived my first week of my new summer class. I am loving it. I love the subject matter, even though it's review for me, and I love the professor. Turns out... the professor is one my mother had before. When she got her degree 10 years ago, she took a geology class and loved that professor. But that wasn't at this same college and all she could remember is his first name. As I sat in the class all week I had a nagging feeling about something and I started to put the pieces together and turns out, it's the same guy.

He is great. Really down to earth, thoughtful, funny and considerate. He is a man of science, he's an engineer and geologist. He also teaches physics and astronomy. Anyway, some how we got on the subject of creationism and stuff like intelligent design. He manged to present his side and explain what the other side says and he did it in a very respectful way.

A little case in point about his respect, but with a different example... he was explaining the sub solar point from astronomy and this dinky student just blurts out a question "And this happens every day?" I could tell he was taken aback just a little by the stupidity of the question, but he manages to always answer questions - no matter how dumb - with grace and respect. He never belittles the student.
(BTW, the answer to the question was: yes, the sun does hit the earth everyday. Good grief. Some people. This middle aged lady is just... she's two crayons shy of a full box.)
I'm kind of reminded of an episode of "South Park" ... "There are no stupid questions, only stupid people." LOL

I digress. I mean, I have my moments too, we all do, but when it's silly question after question it gets old. Also, anyone else annoyed when people just blurt out questions, even if they interrupt the professor? I refuse to do that. I always raise my hand, but I notice people don't do that anymore.

So at the end of this class he left us with philosophy. Basically he said a closed mind is dangerous. The people who don't want to see any other point of view are the most dangerous. He gained massive respect points from me.

I'm going to try and take as many classes with him as I can.

Whoa dude

Because I changed my major from math to geography I have some freshman classes to catch up with. It is crazy to go from a junior level in college to a freshmen level. The differences in the classes are so outstanding.

Not only that, but so far everything is a review for me. We talked about astronomy and geology. I've had both. The only frustrating thing is... being asked a question you once knew but can't remember now.

I've had to fill my brain in the past two semesters with things I really didn't care for. I had to waste my time and energy on French, history, human geography and Philosophical Filmmakers. There is a mathematical formula which proves the loss of knowledge through time. I think that after about 2 years of learning a subject, and not brushing up on it obviously, you lose a good 80% retention of that previous knowledge.

Anyways. It's just frustrating to feel... non-linear in my learning. I'm glad that I'm finally going to have more consistency in my classes from now on... more geography related in one way or another... now that I've gotten rid of most of the "core requirements" for a "well-rounded college student."

Unfortunately I never took great geology notes, his lectures just weren't good for that. But I do have good astronomy notes to brush up on. If I can find them.
And while I'm at it... it sure would be nice to retain some of my mad math skills.

All this just leaves my brain feeling confused. I can't explain it other than that way... confused. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like exposure to other courses, but it would be nice to build upon what I learn rather than starting and stopping in blocked spurts of time.

PS - I want to add a complaint. Just to point out something that bothers me, and it underscores my point here. I took French I Spring 08... hoping I could take French II in the summer. But that just wasn't possible. NO colleges around here were offering it in the summer. So there we go again... I took the first class and now I have to wait one more year before I can take the second. This is so frustrating!!

I'm also mildly worried about the fact that I have to take so many higher level electives, but yet I still have to get in 2 freshman geography classes. An advisor did sit down with me and she seemed to think everything will work out fine, but I had a very hard time following her the way she was explaining it all. *frowny face* Ever have that happen, where the person is just so familiar with everything that it's so CLEAR to them, but you're hopelessly lost? I asked her questions but her answers were just about as clear as fudgey pudding.
Mmmmm. Fudgey pudding.

Insure that they get your money

The follow up to my last post about insurance is that our insurance company denied the post-op visits because the Doc stuck a scope up Ryan's nose. And they don't want to cover that. So now we have to pay the co-pays, and it's $90.

Even sadder... My dad chatted with me this morning and said "Did I ever tell you there's a lot of bullshit out there?" I said "Kinda, which bullshit are we referring to specifically, because that's a large topic."

Just because he's a year older, 60 years old and retired, his insurance premiums shot up $90 for each month. Each month. This just kills me. Yes, older people may usually require more care and everything, but dammit... the human life should not be reduced to dollars and cents.

(I came within 15 feet of Obama just awhile ago. I felt like shouting out "FIX OUR HEALTH CARE". And I'm regretting more and more that I didn't say that. Not that it wouldn't have mattered really, but still.)

I just said that older people may require more health care, which is true, but here's an example of things that shouldn't be happening. My dad naturally has heart problems running in the family. (I'm the lucky heir to that throne myself.) Family trait high cholesterol. Many insurance companies refuse to take him on because he's on a medication to treat the high cholesterol. BUT if he were NOT on that medication, they'd take him.

Soooooo, they'd rather shell out big time for some kind of heart attack or by-pass surgery rather than pay for a medication that should prevent such occasions? Of course, I do see how they're just hoping they'll win the lottery and maybe he would just die during the heart attack or maybe it just won't happen at all.

Thinking about all this bullshit is going to give me a heart attack right now. I hate it. It's so completely unfair and I don't see any resolutions in the foreseeable future.

juillet un

Julliet. What a pretty word and even sounds pretty. Though most of French does sound pretty unless you have to make that sound like you've got something caught in your throat.

Dang. I just didn't feel like golfing today. I didn't feel like being out in the hot bright sun. However, now it's clouded over! It would be very nice outside.

Lately our afternoons are reminding me of my childhood. When I was younger the Colorado summer weather was to be hot and sunny but building afternoon thunderstorms. We've missed that for about the last 10 years. Now every day it's been clouding over. No rain for our neighborhood though. But that's okay. (wish it would rain though.) I enjoy the clouds. I really do. I love rain, clouds, T-storms, snow...

I'm also enjoying the peace and quiet in this house. It's been a loooooong time since I've had the place to myself. My dad retired 2 years ago and my mom retired last year, though she's got a part time job now. It can get tiring to not get any time to yourself.

One last thing in this highly intellectually stimulating post... Ryan's got to get on his doctor's office. They are whack. (LOL) Okay, really, the thing is he went for about 4 or 5 post-surgery office visits. Each and every time we would check with the billing people before we left and they would just wave us through. As they should because these appointments are "free".

Everyday since last Thursday they've been sending us "FINAL NOTICE" statements. Each and every one says "This will be the ONLY statement we send to you." And they are demanding their co-pay for those post-op visits. *sigh*
It's probably just some glitch in the computer system or someone entered a code wrong, but I sure hope this won't be a big ugly mess to clean up.

I'm still pretty steamed from the last time something like this happened. Ryan had a VNS implanted. The surgeon did it in the hospital of course. Two days later we go to the neuro's office where upon the dude did 2 minutes of work using his computer to turn it on.

We were charged $700 for that racket. And we had to pay out of pocket! We fought and fought and they would NOT budge on it. At all.

I'd better end this now before I get too riled up. (Think: kittens and rainbows, kittens and rainbows, kittens and rainbows.)

fin

Well gosh. Tomorrow is July 1. *baffled*

I did a group presentation today. I did ok, but not great. The next group has a loud mouth, long winded know-it-all (or he thinks he does) in it. Before he started talking he said "First I'll get to my points then I'll heckle the last group about what they said because I disagree with nearly everything they said."

I'm going "WTH?" The rest of the class was a little shocked too. So we did the mature thing and started writing notes on a paper about him. I said "Let's wait outside for him and kick him in the nuts." Another girl said "Yeah, we can take him, he's a skinny SOB."

It was just such a highly offensive way to say what he said.

He never did call us out for the rumble though. I think we scared him out of it by glaring at him. One girl made a sign saying "We Disagree" that we could hold up if he got too out of hand. (mostly as a joke, but really with her personality I'm sure she would've used it.)

Ugh. People.

Be cool to your school... ha.

I know I've complained about this before, but I'm abouts to do it again, yo.

I had to take out a loan to pay for my summer semester. My total is about $1800 with books and everything. (Not including the $50 parking pass I will probably buy.)

My university has a program with local colleges. For transfer students if you sign up you can either get a "scholarship" for $800 off your first tuition bill. I definitely signed up but they lost my information. It's my fault for not following up, but they still lost it. Gee, wonder why they didn't care to keep on top of the information?

Anyway, it's really hard to not think about this when my summer tuition bill should have only been $1000. I'm out that $800 "scholarship". It just plain sucks out loud.

I'm also having a minor problem with my next textbook. I bought it Monday, payment has already gone through on my credit card... it went through on Tuesday... and I just got an email an hour ago from the seller saying she won't ship it until she has confirmation. And she says my payment status is "pending". DAMMIT ALL.

I really hope the website gets its damn ass together by tomorrow. I need that book by July 5th. This is highly aggravating.

Well crap

You know that comment I talked about in my last post? The one I made in class but biffed up my talk?

Anywho, that comment was given credit to someone else in class today. NUTS. So apparently it was a pretty brilliant comment for the professor to reference it two days later. But someone else got the credit. HOW are they going to give participation points when things like this happen?
*frowny face*

(I suppose I could've/should've made sure the prof knew it was my comment, but there was no graceful way of doing it.)

Also one member of my group keeps falling asleep in class during the films. It's highly irritating. She's the only one too. Everyone else manages to... like... stay awake.

I have to track down my childhood vaccines. Ridiculous. And the county I live in just has to be a pain the ass about it. This will be no fun. No fun at all.

I'm going to end this short whiney post with one music link. This is one of a few I didn't post the other day of Gigi... it's a beautiful song. (check it out quick before they freaking take it down! That is highly annoying.)
Lo Sbaglio (it is by Gigi D'agostino.)

MacGuffin

What a great term. A Hitchcock term for some "invisible driving force" in humans and films but really have no major significance in and of themselves. (quick link) Watched my second Hitch film today... I think I like him the best, but probably because he sounds so similar to my creative styles. A highly planned perfectionist. For instance, in one of his films supposedly only less than 5 seconds had to be cut from the film. I don't know if I can watch any of his horror films... so far I've just seen suspense/thriller from him. Suspense/mystery/thrillers are my novel choices too.

(Ummm, I tried to make a comment in class and today was just not my day. I got my mix all talked up and looked silly. I hate it when that happens. I was also trying to say the word "Foreboding" and I just could not say it.)

I cannot see or stand horror and gore films. CANNOT. I have a highly vivid imagination. I once saw "Nightmare on Elm Street" and I couldn't sleep for a month. I couldn't even use the phone because Freddie's tongue came through one and I had the exact same phone. I developed a habit of sleeping with one had over my belly button and one up by my neck. The belly button reason I can't remember, but the neck one I can. Something about being in a jail cell and a sheet wrapping up around someone's neck while they slept.

UGH. I have to change the subject now. (But of course now all kinds of thoughts are racing through my head.)

Soooo la la la.... Oh, Ryan and I played mini-golf today. It was a perfect night for it. And luckily it wasn't too crowded, although there was a group of 7 teenager boneheads messing around ahead of us. Finally even they got tired of just messing around and decided to... you know... actually play and get it over with already.

I got 6 holes-in-one and, hee hee, 3 honorary ones. I say honorary because yes, I hit the ball too hard so it basically went in the cup but bounced back out. Still, I had 6 definite ones.
Tomorrow we golf for "real" with my dad.

Well, I could babble on about various things, but I shall not. I will end by saying how incredibly sad I am of George Carlin's death. I loved him. I saw him on stage once and I think he is very funny. One of my kinds of wit... very wry, dirty and smart.

Bowling for pins

The mister and I had fun yesterday. We decided, kind of spur of the moment because we are mad-cap like that, (ha) to get out of this city. We drove to a small town about an hour away.

First we walked around a few antique shops. We saw a photographer taking pictures of a just-married couple. And this lady who was on a Harley with her old man offered to let them take pictures of them on the Harley. I want to see how those pictures turned out... but alas, I will never know. I'll just have to make them up in my mind.

Then we ate at a local restaurant. Sometimes that's a crap-shoot because honestly... I've eaten at some really bad local restaurants. And sometimes they have this attitude of "Why are you making me get you food and drink? You're disrupting my staring at the floor time."

Anywho, this place was not like that. The lady was friendly, so was the rest of the staff actually, and the food was really good. Not only that, but I ordered a grilled cheese and the cook accidentally made a grilled chicken sandwich as reported by our waitress. So Ryan asked if he could have that sandwich so it didn't go to waste and she gave it to him! And didn't charge! Sweet! We left her a good tip.

Ensuite we saw a bowling alley. It was really fun being in an old bowling alley, not some chain where they all look alike. I love charm and individuality in buildings, businesses and towns, something that is highly endangered in this corporate world. (Genarica. Generic America.) Anyway, we were the only ones in there. An old man came in for a drink of soda, but that was it.
The last time we went bowling was over two years ago in Denver. 2 games and shoe rental cost us $27. We played 4 games yesterday and it only cost us $18, shoe rental included.

I'm a little achey today though.

The drive home was beautiful, a very ugly bug landed on my windshield though. Not dead, I actually pulled over to let him get off. The weirdest bug I have seen yet. It looked like a praying mantis crossed with a grasshopper crossed with a wasp crossed with a cricket and it had this loooooong black whip tail looking thing. And it was very large. I should've taken a cell phone picture. Oh and it can fly. *shudders* I'm glad I was on the inside of the car.

I'm also happy I found the movie I need for my group presentation. We rented it at one of the big chains (yuck). I'm glad they let you rent movies without a membership now, but we got one anyways. One of the cheapest ones... because Ryan really loves movies. I do too, but he really enjoys them. BTW, the movie I'm doing for my group project is North by Northwest by Hitchy. (Hitchcock.)

Well, my mind is babbling off in many directions at once now so I'll end the insanity of this post now.

Gigi D'agostino

Ok. I'm feeling a little bored and I thought I would share something with y'all. I am a trance/electronica lover. (I'll just leave it at that for now. It's late.)

I discovered Gigi D'Agostino in 2002. Love him. He's a genius, underline 3 times. I have his album L'Amour Toujours and the whole thing is excellent. I used to repeatedly look for updates, but because he's Italian it's hard to find his stuff sometimes. (Damn you Europe, why do have to keep all the good stuff from us?)

However, thanks to You Tube, I'm now happily enjoying a quite few new-to-me songs. (though I've listened to them over and over now.)

Also, I need to point out, his stuff isn't heavy 120+ bpm "throbbing bass beat" all the time. Check out these songs, some are quite beautiful. (Gigi D'agostino is technically classified as "electronica". Not that hard, fast rave stuff.)

Again
Please Don't Cry

Silence (the good video was taken down for some reason, so I have to post this slightly inferior link in its place.)

Un Giorno Credi
Cada Vez Que te veo
This video is hilarious... I love it. Super
Summer of Energy
Hymn
Angles Symphony (gotta be honest, don't know if that's a misspelling or not.)

A few remakes from other songs:
You Spin Me Right Round
You Spin Me... with a better video
Clocks
Bittersweet Symphony


Now here are a few of the songs from his album L'Amour Toujours.
The Riddle (a slight remix, but very close to the original.)

I'll Fly With You (almost exactly as is on the album. If you check no other song out, PLEASE check this one out. It is a gorgeous song. Not a heavy bass beat either. Almost like opera.)

Bla Bla Bla (exactly as is on the album.)
La Passion (almost exactly as is on the album.)
Another Way (a slight remix, but very close to the original.)

I love him so much. And he's gorgeous on top of it all. (Can't help myself *wink wink*) Clearly all you have to do is search for his name and you'll find tons of fantastic stuff to listen to from him. I could go on and on posting links for his music.

ETA: Oops. Had to fix a broken link. Hope the others stay working. Nuts.
Darn! Had to fix another one.
WOW. Just as I was checking things out, another video went down.
Hope most things are working now, and will work for some time. :-(

jeudi

I'm a guest "blooger"! Go here to see my brilliance shine. Hahahahaha ;-)

I have to go to school today to do my group project and it looks like it will finally thunderstorm around here. I love thunderstorms and now I may have to miss out on this one because I'll be in the lye-berry. Dammit.

Sadly this is all I have to say for myself at the moment. I have to go research the movie we're doing a project on, North by Northwest. Hitchcock. My first Hitchcock film that I will have seen in full. I need to rent more of Orson Welles movies... I think I might end up being a fan of his.

I never did tell about my first day of school. But here's the part that mattered the most and made it so bad for me that day. Teddy, our gerbil, showed his illness to us Sunday night. He was laboring to breathe. We gave him antibiotics, just in case it could be pneumonia but they didn't help.

Monday morning we woke up and he was still just as bad. I knew we had to make that awful decision to put him to sleep. But alas, I also had school. So I said my goodbye, my prayers and held him and kissed him. Ryan took him to a vet that is 1 mile away. I don't really like them, they overcharge, but he can't drive.

So. There I was, miserable and grieving on my first day of school. Not wanting to be there, not to mention I didn't sleep all night either because I was worried about my gerbil boy. And we watch this Jean Renoir film called The Rules of the Game. In this movie they have a big hunt. And they really do kill these animals on screen. So they're killing birds and rabbits, all the while I'm grieving for my own dear rodent pet.

And there you have basically the gist. The other sucky part was I missed the shuttle bus because the guy left early.

Meander over to the bus

*sigh*
What is with people? I suppose that is the question for all time, actually. But specifically, people at my university. The shuttle bus was just about to pull out. The driver was nice enough to stop and wait... and wait... and wait... as this girl just kinda wandered her pleasant little way through the parking lot over to the bus.

This is the second time that's happened. It's just annoying to see these people taking their sweet time getting to the bus that is more than ready to leave.

I'm halfway through my class now. Only 4 classes left. (2 weeks) Tomorrow I have to go to school to work on my group project. I wish I didn't have to. I'd rather just stay home.

I have to decide something. Should I pay $50 to park in the actual parking lot for my second summer class? This first one will end on July 2. Then my second class begins July... I don't know, but shortly thereafter. It will last for 3 weeks.

It goes 4 days a week and begins at 0815. If I were to take the shuttle bus still, I would have to arrive in that lot for a 0745 departure time. YUCK.

Sooooooo, I have to decide if the $50 is worth it. I think it might be. Maybe if the second class were only a 2 day per week affair, I could put up with it. But seeing as it's 4 days a week, for 3 weeks with an early start time... I think the $50 might be worth it.

Ugh. I hate thinking about giving the university even more of my money, but I think it's worth it. I'll keep thinking about it, but I'm 78.63% sure I'll buy a 3 week parking permit.

Here's one of my birdies doing a Fu Manchu impression:

Bornday

Today is my birthday. We really celebrated yesterday because I would be in school for 7 hours today. I had a nice day. Both yesterday and today actually, though class was very long. The weather is cold, damp and cloudy and that's my favorite kind of weather. So even the weather gave me a little birthday gift!

oh em gee

This slays me right now.


more cat pictures

Teddy Bear-Bear

I've been quiet about this... we had to put our last gerbil, Teddy, to sleep on Monday. I'll tell the story later, I just haven't been in the mood to really talk about it much. The story intertwines with my first day of my new university too. But anyways.

So I thought I would just update a little bit and include an adorable picture of my two boy gerbils. Teddy is the mostly black one and Storm is the white and black one. They had 3 sisters and 1 mommy. I hope they are all reunited and playing around with each other. I miss my gerbies so very much.

Fooooooore

I got hit by a golf ball on the links today.

It was just a bad situation. There was a huge hill blocking my view of someone teeing off at the adjacent hole, hole 2. We were on hole 9. Anyways, all of the sudden this golf ball comes whizzing at me and grazed my left arm. Well, a little more than grazed, but it didn't slam straight into my left arm. "I was winged!"

The dude said "Didn't you hear me yell 'fore'?" I said "NO. The wind must've carried that away from us." And indeed, the wind was to our backs while this dude was down wind. Besides, the distance was actually a little too short anyway for much reaction time. He only hit about a 25-30 yard shot.

I saw him shaking his head as he headed back to his golf bag... and at first I was a little indignant. He's angry at us because we didn't/couldn't hear him yell "fore"? But I decided to give a benefit of doubt and think instead "He's just shaking his head because he can't believe he hit somebody."

I'm really glad it didn't hit me on the head or face. I looked up and did see it comingrightforus and I managed to duck just a little bit to the right, out of the line of fire.
Hmmmmmm... you know... come to think of it, hubby didn't put himself in front of the ball to take it for me. (lol)

My putting today was all about "awww, so close." As in maybe if I had hit it a little softer it probably would've rolled in as it went by the edge of the cup.

First day of school

Yep. Tomorrow is the first day of school for me. *sob* I'm so sick of homework. But I'll live. Maybe.

My parents got me a great new bag for an early birthday present. It's black with hot pink and it's on wheels. I already have a navy blue roller bag, but this one can store a laptop! :-D Tee hee!! It's very cute. I think my mom said they had black with light blue... wonder why they didn't pick that one, I'm not necessarily a hot pink gal. If I'm forced to pick... lavender would be my favorite color, followed by green and then navy blue.

Well anyways. I look forward to using the bag, though I know I'm not "hip" when I do. I know kids these days like to have backpacks if anything. But I don't care. Much. I like my roller bags. I just hope I'll have places to put it when I'm in my new college's classrooms.

I also have to leave 20 minutes earlier than I should because I have to catch a shuttle to the school. LAME. So for a 10:50 am class... I have to leave at 10:00 to catch a 10:25 am shuttle.

Wish me luck! :-) I'm pretty nervous and frightened about my new day at a new college tomorrow.

I'm a Preppy!

First I'd like to add something to my earlier entry about doctors appointments being "lost". I just wanted to add, while this receptionist wasn't a total b**** about it... she never did say "I'm sorry." They never do. It's never, ever their fault. It's always the "stupid" patients fault for actually believing they have an appointment at that time. I just hate that attitude that receptionist's give when appointments are lost or screwed up... like we're the idiots and screw-ups.

Kinda like that episode of Seinfeld when he was at the dry cleaners and ultimately all he wanted for them to do was admit that they shrunk his shirt. He just wanted the admission that "Yes, we are responsible, we screwed up, we shrunk your shirt."

Sheesh.

Anywell, the other still thing I wanted to blog about was a little giggle I had at Hobby Lobby today. Two girls were carousing in the sticker aisle and one of them said "Honor Roll? I sure wish I could be on the honor roll." The other said "Yeah, but that's only for preppies."

I had a little inward chuckle and smile about that, because I have been on the honor roll for my college career so far. I'm proud of that because I didn't do so well in high school. So anyways, it amused me. (I can be easily amused.) ((as if that weren't obvious.))

a-g-g-r-a-v-a-t-i-o-n

So this past Thursday we had to hit two doctor's appointments. One at 10:50 and one at 12:30. Worked out pretty well and they really weren't too far from each other. The first one went fine.

Then we went to the second one, the neurologist. And as I half expected, they "lost" our appointment. I sure wish I hadn't left the card on my night table with the receptionist's handwriting on there for the exact date and time. There is only one receptionist, she's there all the time and she is indeed the one who wrote the appointment on the card.

She went through this whole song and dance "Noooo, I don't see you on the appointments. Lemme see if you were on the list I had to call to cancel... Nooooo, I don't see you on that list either."

I hate that. What is up with that? Appointments just disappearing into thin air? Ok, so computers can have their glitches, but when you can't get another appointment for 2 months... it's quite annoying. Our next appointment is in August.

We were there when they lost another appointment time for another couple... Back in December we were in the small waiting room with these two people. Then we saw them again in March, only the receptionist had "lost" their appointment. The lady was highly aggravated, and rightly so. She was kicking up a huge fuss while her hubby was trying to calm her down.

So now it was our turn to just vanish into thin air. I guess we'll just have to call a week or two in advance and make sure we're still on the books. I dunno. I know things happen, I really do. It was just frustrating when the receptionist wrote down the appointment time and then when we show up she's completely baffled at why we were there.
And... we have to wait two more months now to see Ryan's neurologist.

We're not in Kansas

Well, oooookay. So I changed my layout again. ;-) It has been hard holding back since I found all those free layouts that look so nice. (although I hate that bar at the top, why that color darnit?)

Anywho... I did change because I decided I wanted a lighter design for now, what with summer coming up and all. I love the beach, actually I love all things water related. I might end up rotating through all their beach layouts they have throughout the summer. ;-)

As you were.

anti-comma

I, hate, commas, with, a, passion.

I'm always, always, sticking too many commas in my writing. Be it here or even in term papers. I don't know what it is about me. I need to go to Comma Reform School. Or Comma-holics Anonymous.

I also need to very quickly break my habit of staying up until 0300 and sleeping in until noon. I will have to do that today. School starts next week. *groan* In July I'll have to start waking up in time for an 0800 class.

I'm still a little annoyed with my fall schedule though. I have 3 classes that I'll be attending for sure. I'm waitlisted on 2 other classes. I need to choose one of those to drop and pick up another class that I can definitely get into. Confused? Well, see, I am officially signed up for 9 credit hours. I need to be signed up for at least 12 and that doesn't include waitlisted courses for my financial aid.

I cannot sign up for any more classes because with the waitlist credit hours I'm up to 16. And you can't go over 18. So I need to drop a waitlist class and get myself into a class that I can use and can attend for sure, no waiting.

So this was a really looong, dry way to tell you that I'm in a pickle and I don't know what to do. Not to mention, I did a search online for other classes I could possibly pick up and there isn't one that I'm interested in or can use. This is so frustrating.

It's also frustrating... did I tell you this? That we can only register online at certain times on certain days. My time was late afternoon about 1 week after registration opened. That's so unfair. That's why I'm waitlisted in two classes because they filled up before I even had a chance to register. >:-(

I just had a vegetarian panini and I added some cayenne and chili powder to it. Now I think I have a little bit of those spices in my eye somehow.

PS

I would like to point out that my typing "blooger" is not technically a typo... I did that on purpose. That's what I call Blogger for fun.
I'm living it up, all giggity style, huh? Awl right.

So many choices

As you can see, I discovered a site where I can get free blooger layouts. This is very exciting. I loooove changing my layouts and now I have a million point sixty-four different choices. Watch out now.

I've been re-reading a few of my old posts, wow, there are a few typos in there. I probably shouldn't call them out, but I guess I just did. The perfectionist in me can be overwhelming and really, I have chilled out a little bit with my blogging perfectionism. I need to save it for the term papers. So y'all will have to forgive me, m'kay?

I got my degree in the mail today and... to say it was disappointing is an understatement. My honor society certificate is better quality and larger than this. It's pretty sad. It's very underwhelming. My Bachelors degree should be much better... I hope.

I really haven't accomplished much over this break. We haven't even done anything fun. But oh well. When I go back to school, we'll still have some time to do something fun.

Hmmmm. Well, I guess that's all I have to say for myself at the moment. Stellar.

Welcome juin

First day of June, huh? Boy oh boy. I can't believe how fast time goes.

So this month means a few things for me. First, my birthday is on the 16th. And I was born at 11:16 am, kinda cool huh? (of course, 0616 would've been really neat.)

But it means the start of school once again. *sigh* I'm kinda sick of homework, ya know? And I have two years staring me in the face. 6 more semesters. But I'll get through it. I start on the 9th. And I will have class on the 16th, of course, drat.

First time at my new college. This will be interesting. I'm a little skeerd.

Exciting updates

Or not.

Since I don't have much else to talk about right now, I'm going to talk about the dirty skivvies and the mattress. Wow, this is going to be a really strange post. Best if you have a hard drink.

Anyways, after about 2 days of the white adult male skivvies getting run over by cars in the road, they crept closer and closer to the neighbor's house across the street. Well, on Tuesday my dad, Ryan and I went to play golf. They were there. When we came back, they were gone.

It dawned on me though... our garbage cans are sitting at the end of our driveway...... yep. Someone had put the soiled underwear into our garbage can. Which is fine, we didn't have to handle it then... but what did they use to pick them up and where did they put it afterwards?!?

They've gone now. Abolished. Finito. Adios. Au Revoir and hopefully not A Bientot.

Moving on. The Mattress Update. Well, here's the dealie-o. Sometime back in October or November I bought this 3 inch mattress topper. It was memory foam.

From the first night it wasn't so comfortable, but I wanted to give it a chance. And we've slept with it for a good 6 or 7 months. The other day, while we were trying to figure out what to do, I decided it's high time to take that stuff off. I guess since I bought it, I just wanted it to work. However, it was really making my back and left knee ache. (because I typically sleep on my left side.)

So we took it off and now things are much better. So hopefully our mattress will be good for awhile longer now. (That's a great sentence, doncha think?) One side is still broken though, but Ryan doesn't mind sleeping on it.

However, I did want to say we went to our local ARC (a sort of Goodwill-like thrift store) and they sell new mattresses there. The full plush was $215 and the full pillowtop was $240. So at least now we know where we should go if we ever do decide to get a new bed when we can't afford much.

Your back is a mattress

That is a super weird, yet almost on target, kind of subject for this post.

It is Memorial Day weekend. Hence, lots of places are having sales. Our mattress is just going to complete crap. It is a Denver Mattress and I'm a little disappointed in its performance. We bought it in 2002. Now it is getting older, but really, by 2004 it wasn't comfortable anymore.

We do not have the money for a new mattress. Not to mention, I hate filling up landfills. :-( But my back is really aching every morning. Very much. And so much now that my left hip hurts continuously throughout the day as well. (because I tend to sleep on my left side.)

I do not know what to do. We could buy another mattress, just the mattress part, but really the boxspring to this bed has had it too.

We did look at these once before... one small problem is, how comfy could they really be?
However, it may not be a bad idea to get one for us to use during the last 2 years that we're living with my parents. Then we could buy a new bed once we move out and this bed could work as a sofa for awhile.

Hmmmmm. Still kills me about landfill waste, but there's not a lot I can do. This bed has really had it. And I'm tired of waking up feeling like a 60 year old.

If you have a pretty face it costs only $1

This is nothing new to me, I've encountered this situation before and I know all about it. However, just recently it happened again and now I'm compelled to whine about it.

So we buy Ryan's special super duper triple anti-biotic nose spray. His healing after the surgery is kinda slow going, but it's getting somewhere. Oy. Anyways, hence the need for this anti-biotic nose spray.

It has to be mixed specially for him and then the cost came to $69.95. We said "But he has insurance!" After the pharmacist called to check it out, turns out this medicine needs a pre-authorization. We get that straightened out eventually and we return days later to pick up the medicine.

Now our co-pay was $5. That's fabulous. But the insurance adjusted the price of the medicine down to $39. It is way beyond aggravating that if you don't have the clout of insurance, you get charged this obscene amount. I noticed that at a Dr's visit long ago. I noticed the charge on the insurance was only $50 and one time when I had to go without insurance, I figured I could handle that paying on my own. But the office charged me $95.

So ridiculous and infuriating.

In other small news... the tornado that hit Greeley CO yesterday also hit a big regional office for State Farm Insurance. The pictures are kinda funny because the cars are completely thrown about the parking lot. (and nobody was harmed in that instance.) I can't help but think... will State Farm pay for the damages? If the people had insurance of course.

ETA: Well, shoot. I tried to find the exact State Farm pictures, but I found most of the other pictures I saw yesterday here.
(Hope this link works.) The train pictures are mind boggling, as it usually is when a tornado strikes. I'm surprised it didn't hit the college; I was considering going there. (University of Northern Colorado.)

ETAA: Forgive all the editing I'm doing here. Usually I let mistakes slide, but today they're bothering me so I'm going back and fixing them.

Bad Birdies

In the interest of at least attempting to be entertaining, I think I will share another Bus Barn story. Tales from the Bus Barn: it was written and so it shall be.

Anywho, I started my rookie route on a shaky foot. I have stories from that experience, but for now we'll skip it. After shuffling me around a bit they finally found a place for me in SPED driving - special needs.

One time in May I forgot to close my driver's window. I boarded my bus with my mouth open as I surveyed the wreckage. Pigeons had entered my bus and had themselves a par-tay all night long. They pooped all over the place. ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE.

Then they brought in some straw and thought they were going to just move on in. Squatters. And the funniest (ha) thing they did was tear up my tissue box. They had shredded tissue all over the bus.

My goodness. What a mess. I couldn't believe it. And this had to have happened for only a few hours because my route ended at about 5 pm... and they roost at night. When I showed up at 6 am for my morning route, they were already gone.

Crazy birds. I had to bring Ryan in to help me scrub off all the poop-a-doop. I scrubbed it off where my kids were going to sit immediately, but some of the backseats were hard to clean off right away. (nobody was to sit there.)

spamby

Every time I see spam in my email boxes I think of my astronomy/geography professor. In geography he would talk about how we could get cheaper drugs in Canada. Then he would joke something about how if his wife didn't stop signing him up for Viagra Runs for the Border... He kept getting offers to do that in his email box.

My brain went on vacation. I'm starting to regain a little bit of my senses. Every since my last final about 10 days ago I've been brainless. Oh well. This is certainly the time to do it while I'm on vacation from school. Though I have been trying to take care of financial affairs and that's been interesting.
I have about 3 weeks left before I have to go back. Last year I barely had 2 weeks between semesters so this is nice.

My hubby ate some egg rolls this morning and now this house stinks.

frosted mini-jobs

Each semester is like a new mini-job. You have your 2 week "breaking in" period, you're wary of the boss/professor with evaluations/tests, then once you hit your stride the semester ends! And an aside - you often don't see some cool peers you met in that class anymore which is sad. It's also amusing that sometimes the last week or two of the semester is when you all may bond together.

Anywho. I am still working on my resume. I DESPISE THESE THINGS. And apparently, I suck at resume writing even though I thought I was doing a decent job. Well, one good thing is my dad was a project manager with hiring experience... I'm going to have him look it over and ask for help. I do NOT look forward to doing this once I graduate college. Eeeeeeeek.

Just call me Magna Shannon

Yay! I had a fantastic graduation yesterday. Things went 100% better than I expected them to. Except the wind... man, every special day I have it has to be windy. That drives me nuts.

Anywho... the news of the hour is that I did indeed make Magna Cum Laude! I was in line for registering and receiving honor cords and I'll admit, I was just about to cry thinking that I was going to get a single braided Cum Laude cord when I knew I really deserved the double blue and gold Magna Cum Laude cords. Imagine my delight when I was handed the double blue and gold cords!!

For once, something at my college was fair to me. :-) They did indeed ignore the classes that didn't pertain to my actual degree and my GPA wound up being 3.91.

I have a funny story. Because we weren't allowed to have purses or anything with us, I planned on stashing my lipstick (really Burt's Bees tinted lip balm) and my single car key in my bra. I didn't have any pockets in the dress I was wearing. I would've locked my car key in my car but just in case I needed to get back into it, I decided to take it with me. I made Ryan bring my main car keys with him just in case anything happens.

Well, something did happen. During our little "pee" break in the pre-ceremony, I discovered my key was missing. I retraced my steps the best I could but didn't find anything.
After the ceremony I battled the crowds trying to retrace my footsteps again and nobody had turned in my key either. (btw my left shoe was digging into my achilles tendon and I was limping around. It shows in the video Ryan took. The blister didn't turn out too be too ugly though.)

My parents and I went to Sooper Salad to eat and for some reason I looked down the front of my dress one more time... there the key was... in my, well, pantyhose and underwear bands. I swear I looked all over my body in the bathroom stall after I discovered it was missing. Oh well, everything worked out nicely.

I saw my old math teacher, the one I loved and she gave me a huge hug and told me how impressed she was about all my honors stuff. I saw a few old student friends from my geology classes, that was really nice. So sad to think I might see them again. They were really nice and cool people. And finally I saw my French teacher. :-) She gave me a hug and she voluntarily said I could use her for a reference while I look for a work study position this summer.

And now........ I will be really brave and post a picture of myself. It was taken after we got home and I was so damn happy about having those honors cords, the ones I earned and yet I didn't think I would receive, that yes, I do have them on in this photo. Oh and my PTK stole, beautiful gold satin stole, got lipstick all over it. The wind flipped it up onto my mouth, luckily after the ceremony. Still, now I have to get that stain out. Phooey.

Anyways. I took this in my bathroom just before I was going to take a shower. I was actually have a pretty decent hair day even after wearing those dreadful graduation caps and the wind affecting it.

straight up

I earned straight A's this semester! :-) I am so happy and pleased.

I am still quite frustrated... you see, I went to college in 1998 and I was studying for a Radio and TV Communications degree. During that time I earned a few B's and one C. Also last semester I earned one B and one C. (and one A.) That semester made my GPA tumble 10 points which royally sucked out loud. (from 3.77 to 3.67)

Anywho, since I returned to college in Fall 06 I have earned straight A's in every semester except Fall 07. But my GPA is only 3.71. :-( This is very frustrating because I'm working so hard and I can't graduate magna cum laude like I should be doing. It's because of those prior grades from 1998 and the crappy semester I had last fall that are making my GPA sink. :-(

Those grades from 1998 do nothing else except tank my GPA. I've worked so hard, earned straight A's and I still only wind up with 3.71.

Ok. Well, I just wanted to whine about that for a second. It's pretty frustrating and annoying. I know in the grand scheme of things GPA doesn't really matter... but there are two things about it - 1) It's nice to put on resumes and 2) I worked so hard in the classes that matter for my degree. These Radio and TV credits should not be counted.